United cuts some fares to lure business travelers CHICAGO (AP) =97 United Airlines on Monday announced it is cutting some= fares=20 by up to 70% in hopes of attracting more business travelers. Beginning=20 Monday, coach fares with no advance purchase for direct flights to and from= =20 Chicago and Denver as well as thousands of markets around the country=20 reached through connecting service are being cut by as much as 40%, the=20 airline said. And the fares on tickets purchased seven days in advance for= =20 the same flights are being cut as much as 70%, according to United=20 spokesman Joe Hopkins. Hopkins said the airline hopes the reduced fares on= =20 flights where there is no requirement to stay Saturday night will attract=20 business travelers. "The key message for us is this is something we feel=20 business travelers have been asking for," he said. Hopkins said between the= =20 direct and connecting flights, about 12,500 markets around the country will= =20 be affected by the fare reductions. Meanwhile, United, which filed for=20 Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, also announced that beginning= =20 Tuesday it is scaling back food service on many domestic flights. For=20 example, meals are being eliminated for first- and business-class=20 passengers on flights of two to three hours in the United States and Canada= =20 outside the normal meal hours .The move comes as America West Airlines=20 starts an experiment in which it is selling meals on board for $3 to $10.=20 Other airlines also are considering charging for food on flights, although= =20 United said last week it had no plans to do so. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) : escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.hilofoodstores.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************